The OPPO Watch Free is a new fitness wearable with payment support and an "eSports" mode

OPPO had promised to launch a new phone, TV and wearable today (September 26, 2021) and has delivered on all three. With its 1.64-inch display and estimated 14-day battery, the Watch Free is this OEM's answer to devices such as the Realme Band 2 or Honor Band 6. 

It has been equipped with a heart-rate monitor, rated to issue readouts on 5 different aspects of cardiac fitness simultaneously and in real-time. There is also stress- and sleep-tracking, albeit with no mention of blood-oxygen measurements.

Then again, OPPO has packed the Bluetooth 5.0 Watch Free with tracking for more than 100 types of work-out or exercise. It has also introduced something new in this wearable: an eSports Mode, which diverts all notifications and alerts from a paired smartphone to the Free when activated.

This might indeed be handy for gaming; then again, it is only compatible with the OPPO Find X3 and Reno6 lines at present. OPPO has indicated that more phones will be added to this list over time; however, they are also all likely to be first-party only.

The Watch Free also has NFC for contactless payments, public transport cards and so on. Then again, it is a relatively budget device, as suggested by its mostly polycarbonate build (for a final weight of ~33 grams (g)).

As such, OPPO has set its price at 599 yuan (~US$93) for the NFC-enabled version, or 549 yuan (~$85) for one without. However, the OEM has yet to mention international availability for this new big-screen fitness tracker.

Get an Honor Band 6 on Amazon